


The History of Clemency Payne

by hopefulbox



Series: clemency [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-03
Updated: 2019-04-03
Packaged: 2020-01-04 11:15:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18342548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hopefulbox/pseuds/hopefulbox





	The History of Clemency Payne

######  _ 7:34 AM, December 13, 2012 _

The castle that housed the vampires Joceran and Clemency Payne was not built to keep the warm in nor the cold out. Of course, that didn’t bother either of them, being undead, but they could pretend it did - even for the purpose of sleeping in just a little bit longer. 

 

The couple snuggled amongst themselves in their warm bed, dark red sheets pulled over their shoulders. Clemency’s similarly ruby hair was splayed across Joceran’s chest as she tried to build up her will in order to wake up fully and make her way to her shop. 

 

Every time she thought she had reached her goal, however, his touch of her hair as he absentmindedly tried to untangle the mess that was her curls lulled her back to a state of near-sleep. She released a low groan of complaint, and she felt his chest reverberate with a laugh. She rolled onto her stomach, still partially on top of him, and rested her forehead on top of his. She couldn’t help but grin at the sight of his face, although she had planned on giving him a scowl instead. 

 

“What?” Joceran’s voice was quiet and deep, his lips unable to hold back a smile to match hers. 

 

“I have to go to work.” Clemency whispered, moving her arm beside his head to support herself and toy with his hair. “I know that you know I’m a very successful business owner and you know I have a very successful business to run.”

 

It was his turn to give her a  _ look _ before he laughed, tilting his head up to press a quick kiss to her lips. “You don’t  _ have  _ to go to work, my dear, you  _ want  _ to. That’s okay, that’s okay - just leave your poor husband to freeze to death. It’s  _ so  _ cold.” 

 

She laughed and returned the peck, sitting back on her side of the bed and crossing her legs. “I won’t let you freeze to death. Here.” She pulled all of the blankets from their various places, piling all of them on top of Joceran until he was just a head. “By the way, honey, you’re a vampire. Only a few things can kill you, and the cold isn’t one of them.”

 

He nodded pensively in response. After a beat, he tilted his head to keep his gaze on her with a smile. “That’s a relief.” He responded, stretching out his long body. “I was wondering about why I was so bloodthirsty all of a sudden.”

 

She laughed, giving him another glance before sitting down at her vanity and gently brushing her hair. They sat in silence as Clemency got ready for her day. Once she had gotten dressed and applied her makeup (a little bit of blush, eyeshadow, no big deal) she made her way over to the bed and gave Joceran a kiss on the cheek. 

 

“See you tonight, Joc.”

 

“Okay, best beloved.”

######  _ 4:53 PM, September 29, 1435 _

 

Joceran wasn’t used to Clemence entering their home loudly, so when she did exactly that one autumn afternoon, he knew something was wrong.

 

He had been in his study, working on his most recent commission. When she nearly walked past the room before stopping herself, turning, he looked up from his composition and studied her expression. She avoided his steady gaze, her eyes glassy as she held her parasol with both hands. She hadn’t even taken off her coat.

 

“What is upsetting you, my dove?” His words were gentle and concerned, setting his quill back into its well before leaning back from his work. 

 

She let out a sigh and looked down at herself, silent for a moment as she considered what she had just experienced. Without saying anything more, she walked away from the doorway. 

 

Joceran pulled himself from his seat and followed her to their room, closing the door and sitting on the bed. She tugged off her coat and gloves, putting her outerwear for the day in their appropriate places. Once she had undressed to the proper point for being outside, she sat down beside her husband and took his hand in hers. 

 

“I… I do not know. I am still trying to wrap my head around it.” She murmured, fixing her gaze on the wardrobe across from them. “I think I just got disowned from my family, Joceran.” 

 

His eyebrows furrowed as he heard her words, quietly considering a response as he ran his fingers over the back of her hand. “How do you feel?”

 

“Angry,” She responded immediately, biting her tongue and speaking again seconds later. “Sad, alone… I know you are my family, honey, but it is not quite the same. Rosalind told me she did not want me around her children. She said I was a danger to them, a monster. She said that the only monsters in their life should be the ones under their beds.”

 

Joceran let out a quiet sigh, releasing her hand and moving to rub her back. She leaned into him completely, still avoiding looking him in the face. “I am sorry, Clemence,” is all he said, unsure of what else to tell her. 

 

It was not as if he hadn’t seen it coming - his mother had spat it at him like venom when he was arguing with his father about whether or not he would be allowed to marry her in the first place. 

 

_ “You would be tearing her away from her family, you know, they would call her a beast, a monster, a demon. She might say that she would be okay with it if it meant spending eternity with you, Joceran, but trust me, she’ll despise you just as you despise us right now. You are selfish for dragging her down with you just because you claim the alchemy in your head tells you it will be alright. We’re not being cruel or unreasonable, we’re trying to protect the girl from centuries of regret.” _

 

“It is not your fault.” She murmured, her attention turning to him at long last and pulling him out of his own thought process. “I thought I had a few more years with them. I hoped that they would not even act like anything was different until their hair began to grey and mine stayed the same as it has always been. I did not think they would get tired of seeing my teeth and fear that I would take their children from them.”

 

He nodded simply, his hand slowing as it cycled on her back. “I know you adore those children.”

 

“I do!” She responded, her voice crackling as she wiped her eyes before any tears fell. “All I can think about now is how that is it. I cannot have children, I am not allowed to see my nieces and my  nephews. I feel so abandoned by them, even though I suppose I’ll be the ones doing exactly that sooner or later.” 

 

Joceran shook his head, frowning slightly as he watched her. “Darling. I know my family has leaps and bounds of difference between your family, but I have nieces and nephews; my sister adores you. She will surely let you mind them. Once again, I know that your family is your family and mine is mine, but it does not have to be how it is. The purpose of marriage is to bring two families together as one, is it not? It is a terribly ugly situation, but you need not lurk in the depths but rather see the sunshine within it.”

 

Clemency was quiet as she considered his proposal, soothed by the repetitive motion of his fingers on the back of her dress. “Okay. Okay, yes, that sounds good.” She breathed out, shaking her head quietly. “Thank you, Joceran. I knew it would be hard, I cannot say I did not expect it to be, but I did not expect it to be so difficult so quickly.”

 

He nodded, leaned down to brush a kiss along her cheekbone. “You will be alright, dear heart.”

######  _ 9:25 PM, February 14, 2017 _

 

“I’m home, Clementine!” Joceran’s voice calls out into the entry hall of their home. 

 

Clemency looks up from her books, raising her eyebrows before setting her reading glasses on the table and pushing her chair back.

 

When she greets him near the front door, he’s proudly holding their shopping cart. It contained a multitude of flowers; if Clemency had to guess, it had to be at least thirty bouquets. Between her surprise and his beaming pride, she can’t help but laugh softly as she strolls closer to her husband. She gazes over the roses; no, not just roses, but also lilies of all kinds, hydrangeas, irises, tulips. He had apparently sold out an entire store. 

 

“What is all this for?” She asks with another chuckle, turning to face her husband with a soft grin. 

 

He shrugs, playing coy, before quickly leaning down to press a kiss to her lips. “Just because, my dove… ah, there was a sale, too. It’s Valentine’s day.” 

 

Clemency hums as she tries to think of a quip to respond with, but she comes up empty after a few seconds. “We don’t have any room for all of these…”

 

“Oh, sure we do! There’s plenty of room in the kitchen - we barely use it, anyways. Don’t worry, honey, I thought of everything.’

 

“I didn’t know I was giving you this much chaotic power whenever I showed you how to use a credit card.” 

 

He only responds with a laugh, pushing the cart past her and towards the kitchen. “Don’t lie to me, Clem, you love the flowers and you loved the shed and you loved that cool - oh, what was it? I forget. You loved it, though.”

 

“It was a Nintendo 64.” She responds, shaking her head as she watches him. “You are a creative genius, honey, but you know you can buy stuff for yourself? You don’t have to tell me they’re for me. It’s okay if you purchase something for your own use.”

 

He goes silent for a moment before looking at her in his peripheral vision, turning to face her with a quiet sigh. “Okay, I’ll admit it - the Nintendo 64 was for me, but most of these flowers are for you. And the shed was for emergencies.”

 

“Emer… Emergencies? Joceran, sweetie pie, love of my life…  _ what would a shed that you bought from Home Depot protect us from _ ?” 

 

“It could be for the dog, or the baby.”

 

“We don’t have a dog or a baby.”

 

“Whenever science finds a way to make dogs immortal, we’ll get a dog. Same thing for babies. We’ll do that too.”

 

“Okay.” 

 

“Okay. We’ll have a family full of immortal babies and immortal dogs.”

 

“Where would we put all of the babies?”

 

“In the shed, Clem. That’s why I bought the shed.”

 

“Babies don’t go in sheds. They go in nurseries, I think. Flowers and plants and stuff go in sheds.”

 

They’re quiet for a moment, and Joceran taps a rhythm on the handle of the cart. “But these flowers are really pretty.”

 

“We won’t put them in the shed until after a month, okay? Or we can plant them outside, I think.”

 

“Sure. Okay.”

 

Clem smiles at him as they come to a conclusion, stretching out to take his hand in hers. “Great. I have one question on the immortal baby topic.”

 

“Hit me with it.”

 

“Are the babies immortal in their baby stage, or are they like normal babies until they’ve grown up to the adult stage, and then become immortal?”

 

“Clem, you just described a vampire baby. Do we want a vampire baby or an immortal baby?”

 

“I don't think there's such a thing as an immortal baby. I think it’s just a vampire baby.”

 

They contemplate for a moment, their gazes cast aside as they consider their options. 

 

“I’m not sure you can just  _ get _ a vampire baby.” Clemency tells him, the space between her eyebrows scrunched up as she looks up at him. 

 

“Sure you can. There’s an adoption center in town, isn’t there? Surely they have vampire babies. I think the population is mostly vampires.”

 

“It is mostly vampires, but I don't think that means - I think that the adoption center was shut down, actually, specifically because of the lack of babies. It’s a miracle.”

 

“Damn it.”

 

“If it makes you feel better, Joc, I have at least twenty teenagers that think of me as a maternal figure. So, there's that.”

 

“You… you want them to have vampire babies for you?”

 

“No. That's not what I said at all. I meant that I already have a multitude of vampire babies.”

 

Joceran’s face lights up and he lifts Clemency up suddenly, setting her up on the kitchen counter. “That’s wonderful. Clem, you're wonderful. You wonderful, beautiful, amazing, smart, kind woman, I love you.”

 

To say the least, Clemency is surprised. She isn't surprised that he loves her, no - he tells her all the time. She’s just a little taken aback by his sudden enthusiasm. “I, uh, love you too, honey. What did you just think of?”

 

“It just hit me why that guy at the store recognized me, that’s all.”

  
  



End file.
